Long wait finally ends for ODU

Drew Hareza has a bitter memory to erase. Craig Wilkins wants to get started on an ambitious goal. Chad King is eager to prove he belongs, and Tobin Cameron still has something to prove.

The four captains are a fraction of the 88 Old Dominion players who been waiting for this day for more than a year — if not longer.

If Old Dominion kicks off to Chowan at 6 tonight, Hareza will be one of the first Monarchs on the field for the school's first FCS game.

Hareza, ODU's redshirt freshman kicker, has been practicing since August 2008, but he's been chasing redemption for almost two years. In his last football game, his South Fayette High team in McDonald, Pa., lost a first-round playoff game in the final 30 seconds after a long screen pass led to a last-second touchdown.

Hareza, a 6-foot, 205-pounder who also played linebacker in high school, watched helplessly from the sideline with the torn labrum that didn't allow him to play defense for the final four games of his senior year.

"That was definitely a bummer," Hareza said. "It was just a disappointment."

Wilkins, a 6-foot, 210-pound redshirt freshman strong safety, also has a bad taste in his mouth from his last football game — a 20-9 loss for his H.D. Woodson team against D.C. rival Dunbar in the city championship. While he'd like to replace that memory with a better one, Wilkins also is focused on accomplishing the mission spelled out on his gray ODU T-shirt, which features a football with the word "undefeated" written in the middle.

"I'm trying to wear this shirt at the end of the season," Wilkins said.

Tonight won't be the first college game for Chad King, a 6-3, 250-pound defensive lineman. King, a redshirt sophomore from Springfield, played football at NAIA Ohio Dominican University before deciding to transfer to a bigger school closer to home. He arrived as a walk-on and enters tonight's game as a captain.

"I think I was able to show that I was a hard worker," King said. "Both of my parents are leaders in their community, and I think growing up under them really helped me. I never really worried about all the politics of football. I came in and did what I was brought up to do."

King's father, an Army colonel, and his mom, a high school principal, will be in the stands tonight, along with King's uncle and his family.

So will Cameron's parents, sister and grandfather, fresh off a cross-country flight from Healdsburg, Calif.

So is Cameron, and to proving he is cut out for the only position he's ever wanted to play. At 6-4 and 275 pounds, Cameron, a junior transfer from Santa Rosa Junior College, is a little undersized for left tackle. But Cameron's brother, Andrew, played left tackle at California, and taught Tobin all that goes into protecting a quarterback's blind side — including how to handle the pressure of that crucial role.

"Since I was a freshman in high school, he taught me about the techniques," Cameron said. "I watched him play at a big program like that, and of course I wanted to be like my brother."

The four players and their teammates aren't quite sure what they'll feel when they step onto the field at sold-out, 19,782-capacity Foreman Field tonight.

"I've never played in front of that many people," Hareza said. "It's probably going to be one of the best feelings of my life."

Wilkins is eager to hear some real crowd noise instead of the facsimile coaches have pumped into practice this week, and King is psyched to realize the payoff of his decision to transfer to a larger school.

Cameron is just plain ready.

"I've never been in a position with this type of game before, with this kind of hype," he said. "All I know is there's going to be goosebumps, adrenaline, excitement — but one thing I'm not is I'm not nervous. I'm ready for this game. I am extremely excited to go out there and play."